


Shuffle is a Hell of a Thing

by preblematic



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Demisexuality, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Music, also Armin's kind of a slut just bc, and i wanted pining Eren okay, dumb gay teenagers, everyone always writes pining Armin, the headcanon that Armin is in to metal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-02-11 07:17:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2058960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/preblematic/pseuds/preblematic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Eren pines, Armin listens to scary music, and they kiss after a moshpit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My Whole Family Thinks I'm Gay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I merged chapter one and chapter two together bc they were short as dicks

     Armin liked a lot of things, and he was very vocal about things he liked. He could chatter non-stop about the latest Marvel movie or the book he was reading or the one-eyed kitten that he had just adopted--she didn't have a name yet, but she liked to sleep in his hair when he was on the couch, and sometimes she fell in his trash can and couldn't get out, and  _oh my god, Eren, she is the most precious thing._

     But there was one thing that Armin never really talked about, music. He was usually happy with whatever was on the radio, but Eren had seen him with headphones plugged in to his phone before. So he  _knew_  that the blond had his own library. What secrets was he hiding? He probably had a really embarrassing collection of, like, pop music or something. 

     He was constantly looking over Armin's shoulder when he was on his phone, praying to god that he would go to his music app. He needed to know. He  _needed_  to. 

     So it was only natural that, when Armin called him from his grandfather's phone to ask if he had left  _his_  phone there after their customary Thursday night study session, Eren nearly shit himself with excitement. After minimal searching, he found the device and informed his friend that yes, he had it and would give it to him the following day at school.Now was his chance. He prayed that it wasn't password protected. 

     It wasn't, and Eren thanked the snooping goods as he plugged in his headphones, and whatever Armin had open last loaded. He hit the home button before whatever webpage it was could load, and tapped the little music icon.

     He didn't immediately see anything that he recognized. The "Now Playing" was some sort of orchestral score that could only be described as hopeful when he played it. It actually wasn't dissimilar to what he usually listened to, and he could easily imagine Armin listening to the calming violin while he spent way too many hours with a book in front of his face. 

     Eren soon found that that song was the exception, not the norm. After a few moments of mindless scrolling through artists, he put the music on shuffle, figuring it was as good a plan as any. He immediately regretted it. The beginning of the song it landed on was a ten second long, demonic scream.

     He yelped and quickly pulled the headphones off, nearly falling off of his bed in the process. When the wailing stopped, he cautiously put the headphones back on. He couldn't believe this was what Armin listened to. Maybe it was just that one song. 

     It wasn't. The next song did not open with screaming, as the one before, but the instrumentals were just as hard, and the album art was a scantily clad woman covered in tattoos; so, there's that. The one after that was fast paced and loud, and the singer seemed really angry, but at least Eren could understand the words, well, to a point. They were good words, if unecessarily aggressively delivered. 

     He stopped his perusing about thirty seconds in to that song, not really sure he wanted to know what else was lurking in there. So Armin was in to--what would you call that? Rock? Metal? Animal? Vegitable? Mineral? Whatever it was, it was screechy and loud, and he must prefered his violins and pianos.

     Eren didn't really know what to do with the information he had just acquired. He had spent a good portion of the last few months trying to find out what music Armin had, and now that he knew he was just kind of...unsettled. It brought to mind Armin covered in tattoos and questionable piercings, and it was so far away from the Armin who was scared of check out clerks and missed class once because there was a kitten in his backyard. 

     He tossed the phone on to his desk. He would give it back to Armin the next day, and that would be that. He kind of felt like his whole world had been shifted slightly to the left; like when he found out that Blue was a girl, and Pluto's not a planet. He hoped the feeling would pass with time.

     The next day, Eren handed Armin his phone back. The blond mad a displeased face at the fact that it was pretty much dead, and Eren assumed that would be the end of his foray in to Armin's scary music library. He was oh so very wrong.

 -----

     Eren didn't mean to stare, really, but ever since that night a few days before he couldn't stop staring at Armin whenever he had his earbuds in. Which, Eren also noticed, was quite a lot. He felt sorta like a bad friend for my having realized sooner how much Armin liked music.

     The blond was completely absorbed in whatever song was on. It wasn't just that song, Eren knew; he was like that with every one that came on, passionately mouthing the words and accidentally singing a few aloud ever now and then. Eren liked watching him at these times; there was something about this enthusiasm that was different than the interest he showed in other things. It was--dare Eren think it?--attractive.

     Armin didn't notice anything when he was like this. He had his nose in a book and his music on, and it would take a bomb to get his focus off either of them. Or Mikasa coming to get them for lunch, that would work too.

     Armin jumped when something tapped his shoulder. "Oh! Eren! Mikasa! How long have you been there?" he asked, concerned. He had taken one earbud out and was holding it in his hand; Eren could hear fast guitar and vocals he couldn't understand.

     "Not long," Eren lied.

\----

     "You've been acting weird," Mikasa said to her brother over dinner. Their dad didn't usually get home until later at night, and their mom was out because she hasn't had time to do the grocery shopping until then. So dinner consisted of left over beef roast on paper plates and Popsicles because it was fucking hot.

     Eren nearly choked on his fork. "How so?" he asked, coughing.

     For a moment the girl mulled over how to describe what she had been noticing. "You look at Armin like you think he's going to sprout wings and horns and dance like a chicken down the hallways," she said after a moment.

     Eren had a moment of hysterical laughter at that. His sister had always been blunt in her phrasing; it was something he wouldn't change for the world.

     Eren said, poking at his food with his fork,"Nah, it's just...I accidentally found out something about him that's sorta changed my perspective of him." Well, 'accidentally' was a stretch, but he didn't really want to explain his reasoning.

     Mikasa tilted her head to the side in question, but Eren shook his head. "It's not important, just...has he ever talked to you about what kind of music he listens to?"

     "No, not that I remember," she said.

     "Okay, I want you to imagine in your head what Armin would listen to," Eren said. He gave her a moment before he spoke again. "It's the exact opposite of that."

     "What do you mean?"

     "It's like some kind of screamo metal with lots of 'fuck's--it's just  _weird_. It clashes."

      "Okay," Mikasa said, going back to eating.

     "Okay?"

     "Yes. I was just curious."

\-----

     Eren had never noticed how much of Armin's wardrobe consisted of band T-shirts. He was starting to realize that he might have been kind of a shitty friend to have not known all of these things that Armin was clearly making no effort to hide.

     Eren was noting a lot of things about Armin that he had never before.

     When Armin was humming quietly all throughout the day it meant that he had one particular song and one song only that he had been listening to for at least the last day and a half. If he kept checking his phone every few minutes and didn't hum or mouth words then he had found a new song or band and was trying to learn the lyrics.

     Armin's facial expressions when he was really in to a song were one of life's greatest achievements.

\-----

     It happened one Saturday while the trio was lying on Eren and Mikasa's living room floor and "doing homework." Eren had taken to, as all teenaged boys do at one point or another, doodling an array of dick in the margins of his paper. Mikasa was playing Sudoku on her phone. Armin was humming quietly and actually doing his work.

     In between halfway thinking about what the answer might be--in case Armin asked--and drawing a horse's head on the end of one of the phalluses--under which he had carefully scribed "Jean Kirstein"--Eren looked over at Armin. His hair was glowing in the slowly dying sun coming through the window; his tongue was sticking slightly out of his mouth as he concentrated, and he was still humming.

     A very quiet, very resigned "Fuck" left Eren's mouth. Armin was hot. He was apparently gay. And his life just got a lot more complicated.

\-----

     It got worse when Eren discovered the  _other_  kind of music Armin liked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs mentioned, in order:  
> "Overture" and "Perfect Weapon" - Black Veil Brides
> 
> "All American Nightmare" - Hinder
> 
> "Tilting Against Windmills" - Protest the Hero
> 
> Sooooo, this is a thing. I've never written, like, a proper fic before. So I figured I'd give it a go. Idk how many chapters this'll be but I do have the plot like sorta mapped out which is new. Okay...So...Let me know what you think? I'm not really sure if I wanna actually get in to this or not, so lemme know if you want me to continue it or not or whatever. i'm rambling no bc I'm uncomfortable so I'll leave.


	2. Va Va Voom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about like leaving this story to the wind. I've had an ear infection for like 9,000 years and school started this last week and I've been kind of absorbed in Minecraft. But! to make up for it this chapter almost doubles the word count.

     Armin Arlert needed to be stopped. Because Eren could deal with suddenly liking men, where he had previously had no interest in any sex. Eren could deal with suddenly liking his male best friend. But this? Eren could not deal with this. No. The universe had gone too far.

     Armin prancing around in his underwear to a Nicki Minaj song? That was where Eren drew the fucking line on what he was willing to deal with. He was frozen in a state of shock in Armin's doorway. The song and dancing continued, though. This of course involved the previously mentioned underwear being played with in a striptease that was never meant to be seen.

     Eren violently knocked on Armin's open door. Armin yelped. His arms flew up in the air comically as he fell on the floor after being startled.

     "Eren!" he squeaked, scrambling to his feet. He pushed his damp hair away from his face and rushed over to mute his stereo. "You weren't supposed to be here for another hour," he said, voice strained, as the stereo shut down.

     "Yeah," Eren said slowly, resolutely looking anywhere but his almost naked best friend. "Sorry I didn't call; my phone died. But Sasha and Connie managed to set the cappuccino machine on fire, so we closed early. Your grandpa let me in."

     "Oh. Well I just got out of the shower so..."

     "No, yeah, do whatever," Eren said. He had found a patch of wall that looked like it had been painted over more recently than the rest, and he decided that that was a safe place to look." I just figured it be a waste of time to go home and then come here."

    "Right." Armin went to his closet and put on a shirt that was really too large for him, and made it so that he almost looked like he wasn't wearing anything underneath. He pulled his wet hair up in to a high ponytail. He then grabbed his phone, unplugging it from his stereo. "I uh, I need to make a quick phone call."

     "Okay." Eren fiddled with the straps on his back pack. He had the distinct feeling that Armin wasn't happy to see him.

     Armin swiped his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he got to the right name. He adopted that posture that pissed off suburban moms and horror movie victims always have on the phone. He held the phone to his ear with his left hand and stretched his right arm over his stomach to rest his elbow on it.

    He briefly moved his hand to motion Eren more in to the room before resuming his stance. Eren sat awkwardly on the edge of Armin's bed, letting his bag drop to the floor. Armin was wearing clothes and kind of vaguely annoyed about something; so Eren figured it was probably okay for him to resume his, now habitual, staring.

     Armin was really adorable with his hair up like that. And he had just the tiniest bit of a pout, and oh god, Eren was in deep. He was in so deep if he were a dildo you'd have to go to the ER to get him removed; that's how deep he was.

     Armin tapped his foot as he waited for the phone to be answered. "Please don't be on your way here," he muttered. The other end picked up after a moment. "Jean?" Eren raised an eyebrow at that. "Finally, listen, where are you?" Armin rolled his eyes at the response.

     "No I am not impatient, Jesus, listen I--I just got out of the shower, why? Okay, fuck you. I am  _trying_ to tell you that we're gonna have to reschedule. The Dynamic Duo apparently set Starbucks on fire, and Eren's here early.

     "I  _would_  have called you earlier, but i didn't know until literally two minutes ago. Yeah, I'll deliver that message." Armin ended the call and tossed his phone on the bed. "Jean says 'fuck you,'" he said.

     "The sentiment is returned," Eren said. Armin rolled his eyes an settled on to the bed with his textbooks and writing instruments. "What was he coming over for anyway?"

     The blond weighed his options. He could tell the truth and deal with all that came with it, or he could lie. He had always been a good liar, but keeping secrets from his best friend kind of made him feel like shit. On the other hand, had Armin been Inspector Gadget, the actual literal truth might have given Eren a heart attack. Half lie then.

     "We had a sort of date." That wasn't true, at all. It was nothing resembling a date. It was a booty call, and both parties involved knew that, but Eren's world had been shattered enough for one day, so Armin kept that tidbit to himself.

     "Wow, hilarious," Eren deadpanned. "What class is he failing bad enough that he needs your help?"

     "Flirting," Armin answered, trying not to bristle at his friend's reaction. "I wasn't lying. You don't have a problem with that, right?" Eren had never shown any signs of being homophobic, but it was always the unexpected ones.

     Eren was blushing. "Of course I do!" he spluttered. "That's just gross and unnatural." Armin was about ready to really lay in to his soon to be former best friend when Eren continued. "I mean you could literally date anyone you know, and you go for  _Jean?_ That's fucked up."

     Armin snorted. Of course that would be Eren's problem with the situation,  _of course._ "You're the only one who doesn't like him."

     "Mikasa would beg to differ," Eren said. "Wait, so is he in the closet? Was he trying to use my sister as a beard?!" This was an outrage, an impudent to her honor.

     Armin hit his disgruntled friend in the face with a pillow. "Ow! What was that for?"

      "Are you aware of the existence of bisexuals?" Armin asked.

      "Oh, of course Jean would pull that card. What? He's not willing to own up to his gayness?"

     "Don't be an asshole," Armin said. "I get you don't like him, but don't throw an entire orientation under the bus, c'mon."

     Eren blinked at him. He suddenly felt very awkward, a feeling he'd been experiencing more and more around Armin over the last few weeks. "So, Nicki Minaj, huh?" It was an abrupt subject change, but the way Armin ducked his head down with flushed cheeks made it okay.

     "It's not what I usually listen to," he said weakly.

     "Yeah, I know," Eren said with a small smile. "But it's still pretty great, dude."

     "Can I show you some of my actual favorite bands?" Armin asked.

     Eren had heard some of those, and to be honest he wasn't really a fan. But Armin's eyes were really big and really blue, and he just looked so  _hopeful_. "Sure."

     Armin literally  _bounced._ He may have squeaked. Eren wasn't quite sure. He scrambled over to his stereo and plugged his phone back in.

     For the next hour and a half Eren was regaled with every fact about every member of every band that Armin liked. He even brought out his collection of posters that he had bought but never put up because wasn't enough wall space for all of them, and he couldn't decide which ones he liked more. Armin seemed to vibrate with more energy than an excited puppy. This was all done to a soundtrack that was a mixture of punk rock, vapid pop, and every possible variation of metal

     "And I'm so excited because Warped Tour is coming up, and my grandpa said that I could go, and it's gonna be so much fun! I'm gonna crowdsurf and buy shirts and go to signings. I've been saving my babysitting money for a couple months now. It's gonna be so great."

     Eren--and he had a lifetime of evidence to back him up on this--did not think things through very often. So, when he saw how excited Armin was about this, the first thing that came to his mind was that he absolutely  _had_  to go with him, and he, being Eren, spoke before he thought.

     "Can I come?" he asked.

     Armin's brow furrowed, and he stared at Eren in confusion. "To Warped?"

     "Yeah," Eren said with much less enthusiasm now that he had thought about it for more than three seconds. "It sounds fun."

     "If you want to," Armin said. "It would be fun to not go alone. I'm not paying for your ticket, though."

     Eren laughed and said that he could probably cover it. He wondered if he would regret this decision, but the way that Armin beamed when he talked about all of the things he wanted to door and all the bands he wanted to see and how  _excited_  he was told Eren that he had definitely made the right choice. It also illustrated once again that he was in way too deep. 


	3. I Don't Know What I'm Doing(, but I Know How to Do It.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> eren has a religious experience during a Breathe Carolina show and touches dat ass

   Armin was  _vibrating_. The venue was about an hour and a half away from them, and Eren, being the one who had a driver's license and a car, was driving them both there. Armin was bouncing in the passenger seat and singing loudly along with his music on the radio. Eren was afraid he would crash because he was spending so much time watching.

    His best friend/ newly acquired giant crush was wearing shorts and a tank top with some band on it, both of which revealed too much skin for Eren's continued sanity. He was dressed similarly at Armin's recommendation. Though his shorts were a little longer and loose-fitting. Eren swore that Armin shopped in the women's section sometimes. (There were  _rhinestones_  to confirm his theory.)

    The car's AC only worked about sixty percent of the time, and right now was not one of them. It had clunked off about ten minutes ago, and now the windows were open as much as conceivable on the highway, but it was still hot inside the metal box. Both boy's shirts were plastered to their backs, and Eren just knew that if Armin moved his exposed thighs would make that horrible " _shlick_ " velcro-like noise of skin stuck to vinyl seats.

    And then Armin said six words that would be the death of them both. "Can I take my shirt off?" he asked over the din of one of his--in Eren's opinion--less audibly pleasing songs, pulling the sticky fabric away from his skin.

    Had Eren not been going close to seventy miles per hour, he would have slammed his head against the steering wheel and screamed at the  _unfairness_  of it all. Instead he said, "Yeah," in his steadiest voice, glued his eyes to the horizon, and tried really  _really_  hard to ignore the shuffling next to him. (He was right, by the way, Armin's legs totally made that painful rip noise when he moved.)

    Armin finagled his shirt off and flung it in the backseat somewhere with like four water bottles and a winter coat that belonged to someone neither of them talked to anymore. (Eren had never talked to him in the first place. Armin had, with some guilt--hooked up with him in the back of Eren's car at a party that neither of them had really wanted to go to.) Armin sighed as the air coming through the slightly open window cooled his now exposed skin. He wriggled the hairband he always had out of his pocket and tied his hair up off of his neck too.

    Eren continued to stare ahead and not investigate the now exposed skin next to him. This whole thing was getting really annoying. He had spent a good three weeks three years ago trying to find something that aroused him. Thirteen was old enough for him to know that he was weird and that not wanting sex was weird, and he was really concerned about it for a long time. And then he finally made peace with this whole asexual/aromantic thing and like six months later Armin is suddenly the most arousing fucking being on the planet, and all Eren's wants to do is like cuddle his stupid cute face and make him happy always. What the fuck. Not fair.

    He held out on his whole "not looking" plan for a valiant three minutes before he glanced over. Armin didn't really have any sort of definition to his chest, he was soft and smooth with the barest hints of hair near the bottom of his tummy.

    Eren had seen Armin shirtless before. Hell, Eren had seen Armin naked before. He'd seen him fresh out of the shower before, but he had never, ever, in his life wanted to lick the moisture from his friend's skin the way he did now, and holy shit oh god look at the road; look at the road.

    It was a good thing he did, because he almost completely missed their exit. After they were off the interstate it took more concentration to drive in the unfamiliar area. He told Armin to be on the look out for the music center and rolled the windows down all the way.

\----

     Waiting in line to get in was possibly the worst part of the day. The air smelled like cigarettes and weed and sunscreen; the sun was blinding; and everyone around them smelled like sweat mixed with the afford mentioned smokes and sunscreen.

     Even in the shorter line with their wristbands they were baking under the sun. Eren would probably be fine with his naturally darker skin, but Armin had all the melanin of a powdered sugar donut and would be medium well by the time they got in.

     "You bring suncreen?" he asked the blond. Armin had managed to thread his shirt through his belt loop and was hopping up and down and side to side to see the various performers and people selling things to the persons in the queue.

     Armin's eyes widened at the question and he stopped his near constant bouncing. "Oh, fuck, no I didn't." He gripped his water bottle instinctively, making the cheap plastic crinkle loudly. "There's probably some place that sells it inside, right?" One of the girls behind them was kind enough to confirm that you could buy sunscreen--and ear plugs!--from the people selling maps.

     It wasn't spray sunscreen; Eren felt the need to make it known he didn't want to be cremated if he died right then and there. After the mad clusterfuck of everyone trying to buy a map and schedule at once or just shove in to the venue, the two stepped aside so that Armin could tend to his already reddening skin. Eren could handle Armin doing his own arms and shoulder and chest, but then he got done and said six more words that would be the death of just Eren this time:

     "Could you do my back, please?"

     The small, dying whimper that left Eren's throat was drowned out by the band playing about thirty feet away from them. "Yeah, um, yeah okay." Armin smiled and handed him the sunscreen before turning around.

     Okay, Eren could do this. He could totally do this. He took a deep breath and looked anywhere but actually at Armin's back. It was so smooth; oh god, he was creepy.

     "Um, Eren?" Armin said. Eren then realized that he had spent at least ten seconds with his hands just resting on the curve of Armin's hips.

     Yep, he was gonna be dead by the end of the day, no doubt. "Sorry! There was a dude with three mohawks; I got distracted," he lied. It was totally believable.

\-----

     Armin flitted about like an excited child. He couldn't decide what to focus on, the different music surrounding him or the various merchandise tents or the interesting array of people around them. He seemed awestruck to even be standing in this place.

     The first band that Armin really wanted to see wasn't on until about an hour and a half after the doors opened, so they wandered around and Armin made a mental list of bands-to-check-out-later while Eren followed along like an enamoured puppy and totally didn't walk like three feet behind him so that he could stare at his ass in those  _god damn rhinestoned shorts._  That was definitely not a thing that happened.

     They found their way to the main stage. It was an amphitheater with a ceiling. They found seats and sat down to watch whichever band was performing just then.

     And then Armin dragged him down in to the crowd of people milling around the stage. The band he wanted to see wouldn't be on for like another half an hour, but he was adamant that if you wanted to get near the front you had to go down early.

     The crowd was worse than the line had been. People were shoving him from every direction, and he couldn't  _breathe._  The overhanging roof of the amphitheater trapped the suspicious smelling smoke, and that combinded with the heat made his eyes water. The stage was divided in two with one band setting up as the other performed, and the side they were on was the one without a band at the moment, so at least it wasn't too crazy.

     Armin, what with his lacking in the height department, insisted that they get as close as possible. He gripped Eren's hand as they moved through the continuously moving mass of bodies, and Eren tried not to get too much of a thrill out of that. When they were as far forward as they were going to get, Armin let go of his hand and focused his attention alternatively on the band across the way and on the people setting up in fron of them.

     By the time they got to the place in the crowd that they were in now, Eren was covered in sweat that wasn't his and someone had flung a water bottle in the air. His feet hurt, and his hair was gross and sticky. He didn't see how anyone could be enjoying this, and was kicking himself for coming. And then the actual performers came on stage.

     Armin's face lit up, and his entire world seemed to be centered on the stage he could barely see. The hair that had escaped his ponytail stuck to his face, and his throat hurt from the screaming and the smoke in the air, but that didn't matter. He jumped as high as he could and belted out the lyrics along with the crowd and accidentally elbowed someone in the face, and he didn't even  _care_. He was exactly where he wanted to be, and nothing else mattered.

     That, that made the whole experience worth it. To see Armin looking like he was the happiest a person could ever be. Eren wanted to give him that forever. At a concert that he didn't want to be at, with a ringing in his right ear and at least fifty other people's sweat on his body, Eren Yeager fell in love with his best friend.

     The band playing was a sort of an electronic rock sounding sorta dance music, and everyone went  _fucking mental_. There were giant red beach balls with the name of the band on them that were thrown in to the crowd. Eren got kicked in the head by a crowdsurfer, and he didn't know the words to any of the songs, but somehow during the half an hour set he ended up with a hand in the air and shoving people away from him and screaming along as best he could.

     Armin's bare torso was slick and shiny with sweat, and Eren kept finding himself pressed up against his friend with the pounding and bounce of the crowd. He fought the urge to wrap his arm around his waist and instead shoved him forward with one hand braced against his slippery back whenever he got pushed back by the crowd. 

     At the end of the set they shoved their way out out of the mass of people. Eren had Monster in his hair; and someone had trod on his foot; and his whole body felt like he'd just had a knock down drag out fight with Jean. He felt amazing.

     "Holy  _shit_ ," Armin said, beaming. They started walking up the bowl of fake grass surrounding the actual amphitheater structure.

     "That was fucking awesome. We have to do that again!" the blond insisted. "When does Motionless in White play?" He pulled out his schedule/map and looked through the lists; the piece of paper was pretty battered from its time in his pocket, but still useable.

 _"_ They play at four," Armin announced, folding the map back up. "So, you wanna walk around some? Get something to eat?" He was bouncing as he talked. He had pink glitter on half of his torso, and his hair was doing it's best to escape his ponytail, and Eren thought he was  _gorgeous._

     Fuck it.

     "Can I ask you something?" Eren said and stopped walking. They were about ten feet up the gentle incline toward the merch tents.

     Armin stopped a couple steps ahead of him and turned back around to face him. "Sure!" he said, wiping sweat from his face with his basically already fucked tank-top. "Shoot."

     "So Jean," he said, and Armin's face immediately darkened. "I'm not about to throw him under the bus or list all the reasons why you shouldn't fuck him," Eren promised. "Just...what is he?"

     "Pretty sure he's a human biological male," Armin answered with a raised eyebrow.

     Eren ran a hand through his disgusting hair and scratched the back of his neck. "No, I mean, like... to you. What is he to you?" 

     "Oh," Armin blushed. Considering the multitudes of blush-worthy things he had done in the last year--cough, become a giant slut, cough--this really shouldn't have bothered him, but for some reason shattering Eren's pristine image of himself seemed exceedingly shameful. "Friends with benefits?" he said, cringing in preparation for the reaction. 

     To his surprise, Eren laughed, and when he looked at him he was smiling. "Oh thank god," Eren said. "Can I ask you something else?"

     "Sure?" Armin said, a bit confused. 

     Eren thought of the surreality of the fact that he was having this conversation while they were both covered in sweat and surround by people and Armin was half naked. "Can I kiss you?"

     "What?!" Armin yelped, and to Eren's surprise he sounded angry. He crossed his arms over his bare chest. "I know you're my best friend and all, but I'm not some sort of hooker who you can use to figure out whatever repressed orientation bullshit you've got going on, Eren."

     Eren's eyes widened. "No! No, no, no. That's not what I meant!" he said quickly. He interlocked his own hands and looked down at his fidgeting fingers as he spoke. "I've already figured that out, at least I thought I had. Can we sit down?" He didn't wait for and answer and plopped down on the artificial turf. Armin followed and sat crosslegged about a foot from him. 

     "Okay so when I was thirteen I realized I was weird and was totally not interested in sex or girls or sex with girls or sex with  _anyone--_ or any sort of romantic relationship, y'know? So I was like what the fuck brain and then that never went away and I just was never _interested_  in any aspect of that and last year I found out that that's actually a  _thing_  that other people are. And I was like great, awesome, aro/ace fun times more time for video games punching Jean.

     "And then like a month ago you left your phone at my house, and I had this weird obsession with what kind of music you liked because I was curious; so I kinda listened to it, and then I was like what the fuck dude. So I kinda started staring at you a lot and noticed that you're actually perfect and sometimes you smile when a song comes on and it's like the whole world is right in that one moment. And, to make a really long embarrassing story short, I think I'm sort of in love with you?"

     "Four years" Armin said. Eren had slowly but steadily hunched his shoulders up and looked anywhere but at his best friend while he made his speech, and he was very wary of looking back at his face now, even as the blond spoke.

     "I spent four years of my life thinking you were either oblivious or just not interested." Warped Tour 2014 was apparently  _the_  place to make love confessions now. "I--fuck, I  _cried_  over you, you asshole," the words were said without venom, and the gentle punch to his shoulder reassured Eren that Armin wasn't really pissed. "And all that time you were  _ace_. Do you know how much time I spent trying to figure out how to get you to like me? Fucking eleven, twelve year old me sitting down and googling stuff like how to talk to your crush, fuck." _  
_

Eren worked up the courage to look sheepishly at Armin and offer a weak smile. "Is that a yes?" he asked.

     Armin rolled his eyes and suffled forward on to his knees. He cupped Eren's face and smiled. "Yes, you stupid dork."

     Eren's first kiss was not they way he would have imagined it to be had he ever imagined his first kiss. They were both hot and smelled bad, and Armin was covered in glitter, and Eren didn't know what to do with his hands. He just sort of rested them on Armin's still sweaty back, and they maybe, sorta, accidentally on purpose slipped down to rest on and just above the blond's butt, because in his defense it was a nice butt, and it had confused and frustrated him for like five weeks now. 

     "That was a great idea," Eren said. Armin hummed in agreement and  kissed him again before pulling back and smiling like an idiot. "Are we dating now?"

     Armin groaned and hid his face in Eren's neck--he fit well there, the brunette observed. "God, you sound like a second grader on the playground."

     Eren adopted a high-pitched voice. "I gave you my fruit roll so we're married now, right?" Armin snorted against his neck.

     "Yes," he agreed. "I expect to be refered to as 'Mr. Yeager' from now on."

     Eren smiled. He had glitter on his nose and lips now, and it was really too hot to be this close to someone else, and they should really each some lunch and drink something, but he didn't really care at the moment. They were dating now. Armin and he. They were boyfriends. Holy shit, Eren had a boyfriend.

     "I have a boyfriend," he said in disbelief. Armin rolled his eyes and sat back away from Eren once again.

     "So do I," he said, smiling.

     Eren scrambled up to his feet and held out his hand to the still seated Armin. The smaller grabbed it and hoisted himself up. Eren didn't let go, and Armin didn't want him to. "Shall we go and procure some lunch, Mr. Yeager?" he asked, linking their fingers together. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> may or may not write follow up porn
> 
> i probably will


End file.
